Progressive partnerships

Term from Lab's 2016 study Inflection Point to refer to the need for smallholder finance sector to create and scale more and deeper partnerships designed to strengthen business model sustainability and increase reach. Partnerships can be between financial institutions and value chain actors, or between different types of financial institutions.

Back to Topics

Related Topics

Digital Financial Services

Innovation

Providing Financial Solutions

Ecosystems for SHF finance

Cracking the Nut: ICCO's 4 Lessons to Boost the Onion Value Chain

News:

In Senegal, onion is the most consumed vegetable, but annual production does not...

AgDevCo's Guide to Developing Inclusive Outgrower Schemes

Tool:

Do you currently have a smallholder outgrower scheme? Are you wondering how to...

Why Root Capital's talent management program is a win-win for rural businesses and young talent

Spotlight: Each year, more than 10 million young people across Africa enter the job market, competing for just three million formal jobs. As the continent’s youth population swells steadily towards a projected total of 800 million by 2050, this demographic crisis will intensify even further.

Understanding business model sustainability: Materials from 2017 RAF Partner Learning Workshop

Tool: On November 10, RAF partners and friends gathered for the third annual Mastercard Foundation RAF Partner Learning Workshop in Accra, Ghana.

Multiple farmers working in single field

Linking technical assistance to blended finance for agriculture

Report: On behalf of IDH and Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), Enclude has recently completed a report analyzing trends and lessons learned about how technical assistance can contribute to scaling investments in the agricultural sector.

Enabling environment and smallholder finance: A complex relationship

Analysis: Highlights early learnings around the smallholder finance enabling environment and makes recommendations for future research.

Webinar materials: Using Psychometrics for smallholder credit scoring

Media: As part of a Learning Lab Webinar series to highlight and showcase the work of our partners, on July 20, 2017 we hosted a webinar with Entrepreneurial Finance Lab (EFL) and Juhudi Kilimo – a Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity Winner – focused on the use of psychometrics for smallholder credit scoring. This blog includes webinar materials such as the presentation, recording, and responses to any questions that we were unable to answer during the webinar due to limited time.

Investing in smallholder farming: Six outgrower schemes that are getting it right

Report: In Africa, where agricultural production remains far below potential, companies are working with smallholder farmers to raise crop yields, open up new market opportunities, and strengthen rural economies. In a new case study, AgDevCo’s Smallholder Development Unit features six examples of outgrower schemes that are delivering results.

Going far, together: Breaking silos to unlock smallholder finance

Analysis: Insights and trends on progressive partnerships across sectors and at the last mile in the rural and smallholder finance sector.

Webinar materials: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance

Media: On February 28 and March 1 the RAF Learning Lab team – in collaboration with Dalberg – hosted a webinar summarizing insights from our second Learning Brief, Better together: Last mile partnerships for smallholder finance.

Onward and upward: Using a systems approach to unlock smallholder finance potential

Community: A new blog series, jointly authored by the Initiative for Smallholder Finance and the Learning Lab will share monthly sector trends in smallholder finance and next steps forward for FSPs, donors, and investors. The Pulse is rooted in key findings and recommendations highlighted in the ISF's and Lab's latest state of the sector report, Inflection Point.

Learning Brief 2: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance

Analysis: The second in the Lab's Learning Brief series, "Better together: Last mile business partnerships for smallholder finance,"* offers baseline insights for building or enabling businesses partnerships to better serve smallholders. These are early findings from an ongoing study of four value chain/technology players looking to partner with financial institutions.